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Thursday, September 30, 2010

I don't even know where to start. Since I guarantee, I won't be able to follow some chronological pattern here, I guess I'll just start 'somewhere'.

At the moment I am waiting for the plumber to come over. Yes, I have a date with the plumber! And if all works out the way I envision it, he'll be the hero of the day! David has been working hard and has been gone for most of the past few weeks, which means that I have been playing 'single mom'. Now, in and by itself that is okay, but when you're exhausted and at the end of the day, walk through the kitchen into the laundry room and you hear 'slushing' sounds (for a lack of a better word) coming from under your feet, combined with water that seeps out through the grout lines between the (what is supposed to be) firm tile floor...that's a bit freakish. Long story short: our kitchen and laundry room flooded last night. Not pretty. I am filled with anticipation, waiting on the plumber who is going to save my day.

Speaking of freakin' me out: a week and a half ago, someone tried to break in to David's car. While it was parked ON THE DRIVE WAY!!!! They tried to pry the back window on the side out, but as luck would have it, safety glass doesn't give much. It didn't come out, but burst in a million pieces. Luckily they couldn't get through it, but the fact that it happened on our drive way, right outside my toddler's window totally wigged me out.

The past few weeks have been marked by severe sleep deprivation that Ryder instilled upon me. Good thing he's so darn cute, but every night he would wake up at 5am. It's still dark outside dude!! That means, it's sleepy time!! For both you AND mama. Dark = Sleep. Yeah, nice idea, but convince a 7-month dudenator of that. I tried. Believe me, I tried. And then I tried. And I tried some more. The last 2 nights, he managed to make it through the night, until 6am. It's better than 5am, but still, neither David, nor I are very thrilled. As I said, it's a good thing he's so cute. The charm still makes me forget everything (be it for just a moment...)

[a day later]

It's now a day later. I had to stop writing because my 'date' arrived...

Update: not pretty. A pipe broke in the wall. As I said: not pretty. AT ALL! Water in the wall, on the inside in cabinets, on the outside in the stucco, under the tiles on the floor. We now have a huge dehumidifier and 2 giant fans standing in the kitchen drying everything up. They are loud enough that I can't hear the TV while sitting on the sofa in the living room. They make the kitchen smell nasty and it's HOT in the kitchen. These will continue to live beautifully in the way, in the middle of my kitchen until...well, things are dry. I did dishes in the bath tub yesterday. It seriously felt like a camping experience. The plumber came back today and fixed the problem. Pipe is fixed, sink is in action again, but now we have to get the damages assessed. Oh boy...

This past weekend I hosted my friend's baby shower. It was so much fun! The theme was an English afternoon tea. The guests were supposed to bring their favorite tea in a pot, we provided the cups & saucers and the yummy goodies that belong to a tea. Over the past few weeks I suffered through trying out recipes, but the result turned out great. Scones with jam, lemon curd and cream, sandwiches, brownies, lox & cream cheese filled cucumbers and...cupcakes.

Believe it or not, I had never made cupcakes before, but these 'sparkling' cupcakes with a hint of prosecco in them turned out great. I think we added an inch to all the guests' waists, but hey, it was for a good cause, right?

In other news, I have been preoccupied with my legal status lately. Being from Europe I have a green card, but last week we (almost) finished my citizenship application. I had to appear for my interview, which went well and I 'passed the test', so to speak. I am now waiting for the letter that tells me when I will be sworn in as a US citizen. It's all very exciting.

Oh yes, and then there is work.

So, Ryder is being cute. He's still dispensing almost equal the amount of H2O to the Niagara Falls, but other than his 2 bottom teeth...nothing.

He's so close to crawling, it's not even funny. I had David lower the mattress in his (Ryder's, not David's) crib yesterday as he now also is starting to pull himself up. He is also starting to get into the rice puffs. Yeah!! I remember with Kai that for a while that would entertain him enough to be in the high chair and not throw an immediate fit because their was no spoon in his mouth. With Ryder it seems to be the same thing. The kid likes his food though: 4 oz. of solids for breakfast, 10 oz. for lunch and 12 oz. for dinner. Plus the copious amounts of milk he drinks (approx. 30 oz./day).

Kai is the real toddler. He has really gotten into building towers.

Either with small blocks, big blocks, or his Wedgits (he loves loves loves these). Every masterpiece is being shown off to mama and papa. He gets so proud and excited when he finishes it. And then there is the obsession about wild animals. We're all about wild animals. The other day we actually went to the library, picked up books on wild animals and spent the afternoon flipping through them on the ground. Obviously, the zoo yesterday was once again a success.
Today marks day 3 in the past 3 weeks that he is taking a nap. I seriously think that he might be dropping his last nap, but I (even more seriously) hope that I am mistaken and that my perseverance will pay off. He's napping right now. Thank heavens. The times that he naps, I often find him like this in his room:

We just started our own "toddler reward program". I made a list of activities, occasions that had proven to be tantrum inducing challenging, resulting in a very moody, defiant and frustrated toddler. I am on purpose not elaborating on the frustrations that mommy experienced from this. Anyways, one of my friend mentioned this working at her house, so I gave it a try: every time he 'helps mama / papa brush Kai's teeth / clip Kai's nails' or shares his toys, plays gently with Ryder, etc. he receives a sticker. He picks the sticker and puts it on his chart. We then count the stickers we have and when we reach 20, he gets to pick a toy out of a grab bag. It has made such a huge difference!!!

Kai LOVES to help, so whenever he has a chance to help out, he gets excited. This is making for a much more relaxed toddler, who cooperates more than fights - it's working well for us.

I think at this point the last topic of 'cloning' is self-explanatory. I'm all for it. Why don't we start with me? At this point I would do A LOT to have 2 of me in this house. It would make all the work so much lighter (by 50% mind you!!).

Well, that was an update of the past weeks. Now I (myself, my lonely me) am going back to cleaning and tidying. If I don't have my kitchen, let me at least have a tidy living room.

7 comments:

Oh my, you've got alot going on! I hope the damage to your home isn't too extensive. I hate house repairs! And I would totally freak about an attempted break in too! Yikes! Your boys are getting so big and adorable and yum, I want some of those cupcakes!! Happy weekend to you friend!

Hi! Happy to have you back! I was excited when I saw your post, but then I was sad for you. It sounds like you have had a heck of a week! I would have been a little wigged about the burglar too. When we had our security system installed we had a few extra features added to Squishy's room and the other "kids" room. It gave me a nice peace of mind...

Those cupcakes look delicious! You did a great job! That is very frightening to know someone tried to break in the car in the driveway. I have to be better about locking my car doors. I wish you all the best! I hope you have a wonderful New Year filled with love, great health and plenty of laughter! Happy New Year!